Lakewood Ranch Sold Out a Pumpkin Bread Class Before Fall Showed Up

The pumpkin spice sourdough class is sold out. It's on Tuesday, Oct. 20. That happens to be the date our own look at 27 years of airport temperatures picked as the typical first day the high drops under 80. So the people of Lakewood Ranch bought tickets to celebrate fall on the first day fall might technically show up, and sold it out with almost two weeks to spare. I respect it so much.

The class belongs to Bode Bread Co., a micro-bakery that Heather Bode runs out of her home in Lakewood Ranch. Her site says it started as baking for neighbors and friends, and that her three girls cheer her on. Now there's a weekly menu, a rewards program called the Crumb Club, and a class waiting list. That's how it goes with sourdough. One neighbor gets a loaf, and then the whole street has your number.

The bread

The order page changes every week. Right now it's booking pickup for Friday, Oct. 9:

• Organic plain sourdough loaf, $11. Real starter, organic unenriched flour.
• Rosemary loaf, $11.
• Roasted garlic and Parmesan, $15. The menu says the garlic "becomes mellow and buttery" and suggests it with pasta, soup or charcuterie. Or standing at the counter. The menu doesn't say that part. I do.
• Pumpkin spice loaf, $14, with brown sugar swirls. It comes in a loaf or in an actual pumpkin shape. It's marked unavailable this week, which is the most October thing that could happen to it.

Bagels, sourdough chocolate chip cookies and maple pecan scones show up in rotation too. The shop also lists a plain-loaf subscription at $12 and a $45 Surprise Sourdough Box, for people who like their bread with suspense.

The pickup

Pickup is at her home in Star Farms, and the order page has a note: it's a gated community, and per the HOA, gate access "cannot be granted for bread pick-ups." So contact her and work something out. Somewhere in Lakewood Ranch there's a guard booth with a written policy about bread. That's the most Lakewood Ranch sentence I have ever read, and I love that she just put it on the menu.

The starter

You can get a 1.5-ounce jar of active starter for $5. The listing is honest that it doesn't come with care or baking instructions, and points you to the sourdough classes if you need them. Those are two-hour crash courses. You go home with your own starter, a mini loaf you scored yourself and a ball of dough to bake the next day. Private groups of up to 10 can book her kitchen or bring her to theirs.

The Oct. 20 pumpkin class at Carved Crafted Sandwiches in Waterside was $100 and capped at 16, per the event page. It's gone. Get on her email list for the next one. Fall is due any week now.

— Marina